Still Corners have released the title track 'The Last Exit' from their fifth studio album due out in January 2021. We are a little bit late to the party with this song, however it's just to good to let pass by and gives a good feel for their next musical journey. === Konsequence have shared 'Oh, Look At The Time' and it's a paced and rhythmic song with the vocals immersed in a richly textured musical envelope. === Tired Kid shares 'Make Time' which has a beautiful and timeless alt rock feel to it, a sense of looking back and reliving times gone by, without being overly sentimental.
The Last Exit is the fifth studio album from Still Corners, which will be released on 22nd January 2021 on Wrecking Light Records.
With the shimmering desert noir sound the band has become known for, The Last Exit takes you on a hypnotic journey, one filled with dilapidated towns, mysterious shapes on the horizon, and long trips that blur the line between what’s there and not there. Greg says, “We found something out there in the desert – something in the vast landscapes that went on forever."
The Last Exit consists of eleven beautifully crafted songs with organic instrumentation, clean-toned guitar, spacious drums and the smoky croon of Tessa Murray. Album highlights include “The Last Exit”, “White Sands” and “Shifting Dunes” all of which evoke the vast space of the desert and rolling unconcerned skies.
The album was brought further into focus by the pandemic when almost everything was forced to stop. Tessa explains, “There's always something at the end of the road and for us it was this album. Our plans were put on hold – an album set for release, tours, video shoots, travel. We’d been touring nonstop for years, but we were forced to pause everything. We thought the album was finished but with the crisis found new inspiration and started writing again.”
It was in this context that songs like ‘Crying’, ‘Static”, ‘Till We Meet Again’ were written, reflecting on the impact of isolation and the need for social contact and intimacy.
First single, ‘The Last Exit’ is the final chapter of the Still Corners’ Road Trilogy. What began with ‘The Trip’ and was followed by ‘The Message’ concludes with the stunning ‘The Last Exit’. The video, inspired by the 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock, finds Tessa pulled into the mysterious rocks of Joshua Tree. Tessa explains -
"In a world where everyone thinks all the corners of the map are filled in we like to suggest there's something beyond that, something eternal in the landscape and in our psyche. Maybe you don't see it every day but it's there and that's what we are trying to connect to."
With a galloping beat, teardrop vocals and silver-tone guitar, The Last Exit races down a lonely highway to destination unknown. Elegant and searching with a grand piano ending, The Last Exit will remind you of another world beyond the one you see.
Red-eyed, sleepless nights filled with existential crises and tormented dreams are the order of the day on Munich outfit Konsequence’s new track ‘Oh, Look At The Time’.
Centred around the fear of losing out on opportunities, and lethargically letting life pass you by, the track conveys these emotions through deadpan lyrics and sarcastic wit.
Munich-based brothers Tom and Mike Zitzelsberger have made music together for most of their adult life. Their familial bond allows them to be completely candid with each other – able to express their creative ideas without fear of judgement or rebuke.
Producing emotionally charged electro pop with post-punk affectations, the pair have previously collaborated with the likes of Rome Fortune and Rory Fresco. Nostalgic synths are backed up by motoric drums; melancholia and teenage trauma are countered with a sense of optimism.
New single, “Make Time,” takes an autobiographical look at Tired Kid’s day-to-day life; some of it mundane but relatable, ultimately attached with a bit of happiness.
Tired Kid is the moniker for Thomas Kelly, a musician/composer based in Toronto. Thomas tries to create music with a vintage warmth and psychedelic nature.
Inspired by bands from all eras of time, he picks out elements from each like a florist picking out flowers to create a bouquet of sound for eager ears to listen upon. Pure familiarity, pure nostalgia.
Cajsa Siikhit our radar a few times in 2017 and it's great to have her back with Part 1 of her new album 'NINJŌ PT1' from which we have the first track 'This Is Not Malibu' which is an excellent example of this fabulously crafted collection of music. === Grace Gillespie makes her fourth appearance here this year with 'Hoppers' and once again her creative and melodic music shines beautifully. === Anne Malin has released another song from the forthcoming album 'Waiting Song' this time we have 'Hourglass' where the rich musical backdrop supports heartfelt and superb vocals.
Cajsa Siik is back in force on the new album "Ninjõ". The album, produced by Siik together with Erik Moberg, shows an artist who once again manages to invent herself by being playful, stripped down and powerful. "Ninjō", which will be released in two parts in 2020/2021, has all the ingredients that characterize an album signed by Cajsa Siik: strong melodies, stripped-down arrangements with precision and lyrics that go straight to the heart.
Cajsa Siik describes one of the singles ”Gate Keeper” like this - ”Gate Keeper is one of the key songs on the album. Like a little backbone.The melody wrote itself and has an ease about it, yet the lyrics is all about tension and resistance. I guess it’s about the art of trying to be there for someone else. Still be there for yourself.To be someone to count on in life and to trust, despite all your destructiveness and flaws. Maybe it’s when you dare to accept the shit that you carry around that you can fully be there and be loved?When you stop ignoring what scares you the most.”
Cajsa Siik released her debut album in 2012 and has since put out 3 studioalbums and 1 EP. Over the years she’s been praised in international media outlets such as Q Magazine, BBC6, Line of Best Fit and Nylon. Her latest album, ”Domino”, took her on a European tour supporting Mitski added to performing her own headline shows in Berlin and London.
Grace just released a new single from the EP, “Hoppers”. The track takes influences from the folk, alternative and dream-pop traditions capturing the frantic energy of life and contrasting it with the stillness of death, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies.
Grace Gillespie is a London-based artist and producer originally from Devon, who spent much of 2017 touring as part of the live line-up for 4AD’s Pixx. In 2019 Grace received PRS’s WMM funding and consequently released her debut EP ‘Pretending,’ which garnered support from the likes of The Line of Best Fit, Clash and Earmilk. This year she has received support from the ‘Help Musicians’ ‘Do it Differently’ award, and is using this to release an EP in the autumn. Some of her notable live shows include supporting James Morrison at Dingwalls, Camden and headlining the folk stage at Tipping Point festival in Newcastle.
Her first two singles found their way onto Spotify’s ‘Fresh Folk’ playlist and received extensive support from Apple Music, appearing on their ‘A-List’ and ‘Best of the Week’ playlists, as well as backing from NME, Crack In The Road and The Wild Honey Pie. Her most recent singles have been playlisted on Spotify’s ‘Fresh Folk’,‘Garden Indie’ & ‘The Lovely Little Playlist’. She has received radio plays from BBC 6 music as well as being a featured artist on BBC Introducing London. Her early demo of ‘Restoration’ saw her tipped to Q Magazine by Newton Faulkner and brought her to the attention of Kaleidoscope, who worked with her to produce her first solo releases in 2018. Her sound takes influences from the folk, alternative and dream-pop traditions, providing a backdrop to her intriguing vocal melodies, shifting harmonies and introspective lyricism.
Quote from Anne Malin Ringwalt on the track: “Hourglass” started, lyrically, from my sense of detachment from time during the pandemic. When I wrote “somewhere an hourglass stands at night / sand slips by in the moonlight” I was feeling—at the depth of Will and my unemployment—out of control but loving the experience of how dense our days together were, how our days blurred together. I was picturing time as something far away from us. The image of sand inside the hourglass got me thinking about summer, though, and all the ways I’d enjoy my time pre-covid. As I wrote, I moved from this sense of temporal bewilderment to my relationship with Will. We’re getting married late this summer, so when I sing about “last July” I’m singing about Will proposing to me—how time seemed to be opening up for us then, the possibility we felt. How does one enter that sense of possibility from a pandemic? I tried to sing towards that.
Some of you may remember Anne Malin's last record, the atmospheric and intense Fog Area (2018), which I had the honor of working. Since then, the duo has relocated to Nashville from South Bend (they're originally from NC and Kentucky) and, while struggling like the rest of us with the onslaught that has been 2020 (unemployment, pandemic, sickness) has crafted the sublime Waiting Song, a record about what it means for everything to stop, which I'm sharing with you today. This is not a wallowing, though. In their words, they sing "towards a garden they wish to inhabit."
The ghostliness and atmosphere of Fog Area are still present here, as are Anne Malin Ringwalt's distinctive vocals and excellent lyrics (she is also a poet, publishing under the name AM Ringwalt), but there is also a new glow and energy in her partner William Johnson's wonderful instrumental settings (and his increasing use of pedal steel), which add a balancing playfulness and earthiness. Waiting Song stays true to the duo's always idiosyncratic vision while allowing country and pop influences to creep further in and create some truly memorable songs.
Flora Hibberd is back with a new single and video for 'I'm Gonna Leave You' ahead of next Friday's 'Archipelago' E.P release. Last year we had the pleasure of featuring Flora on four occasions and the new collection of songs showcases her wonderfully distinctive vocals alongside some beautiful musical arrangements. === Lone Kodiak deliver some powerful alt rock with their new song 'PDX '97'. It has all the vital ingredients for a stadium style sing-along anthem, and plenty of passion to reinforce the piece. === Back in 2017 we shared a couple of fine songs from The Bats and the long standing New Zealand indie band are back with 'Another Door' where their ability to create fresh new and fabulous songs remains intact.
Flora Hibberd was born in London and lives in Paris. In 2019 she released her debut EP, The Absentee, with London-based indie Clearlight Records. Autumn 2020 sees the release of her second EP, Archipelago, recorded in Burgundy at the turn of the year.
Flora has numerous smaller projects that you can find on Bandcamp and Youtube, including a collaborative album produced during confinement, and covers of songs by artists including Jason Molina and Townes Van Zandt.
Archipelago will be released on September 25 2020. Recorded at New Year’s over eight days in a country house in Burgundy, the five songs travel the landscape of love and loss, the terrain of a relationship that is failing –or at least changing –where we simultaneously encounter the joy of freedom and the pain of letting go. Archipelago was arranged and produced by Paris-based Viq, who says, “Flora has a remarkable ability to generate original melodies and intriguing lyrics.
There is something particularly moving about her deep vocal presence and the subtleties of her renditions. My work consisted only in accompanying them to territories that perhaps seemed unexpected to her –but where we finally met.”Of the EP, Flora says, “these five songs stand for a memory specific and universal. Rupture in its phases, ever-shifting and nonlinear. Love and loss and enduring love. Here, a cluster of islands in an un-distant sea.”
is an east-Los Angeles based rock trio loosely inspired by (without being derivative of) Hum, Explosions in the Sky, The Cure, and Deftones. Founded in 2016, the band released 2 EPs, became a feature of LA’s independent venue circuit, and was among BuzzBands.LA’s Bands to Watch in 2018 before a serious motorcycle accident involving bassist Daniel Alden sidelined them for most of 2019.
The unscheduled pause gave them time to reflect and refocus, shuffling their roster by adding drummer Josh Harris and returning furiously in July 2020 with “Make It a Weapon,” produced by Kyle Mangels.
It’s the first single from their forthcoming 6-song collection, a song lead singer/guitarist Dainéal Parker described in a recent interview with BuzzBands.LA as “motorcycles and protests and getting in trouble.”
Having wrapped production just before the pandemic hit, Lone Kodiak hopes a drawn out release schedule and effective marketing of their new catalog will land them a solid tour in 2021.
The Bats have kindly shared a second single, ‘Another Door’ from their upcoming album ‘Foothills’. Guitarist and vocalist Robert Scott has said on the single, “This song is wee ditty about opportunities both missed and taken. It came together really quickly with the band.” Although more lyrically reserved than other songs, ‘Another Door’ is fuelled by familiar and overwhelmingly lush harmonies and features a hypnotic tremolo guitar motif woven throughout. The anticipation for ‘Foothills’ to land on November 13th is ever-growing!
“When meaning falls down and we’ve all left this place. And nothing seems to fit, now we’ve left the race behind Today”
The video for ‘Another Door’ was filmed not far from where the band recorded their upcoming ‘Foothills’ album and was a collaboration between The Bats’ very own Paul Kean, and FlowStateFPV. Acting as a snapshot of where ‘Foothills’ was immortalised, the video also plays around with hidden (and not so hidden) meanings — but what one takes from it is truly up to the viewer.
Spanning the last 38 years, The Bats have now clocked ten incredible albums; each one seeing the band evolve with new material from the prolific songwriting hand of Robert Scott —and their upcoming Foothills is no exception. Add to that tally the extra singles, b-sides, EPs, compilations and tribute songs they’ve recorded, creating a succinct setlist is a nearly impossible task.
Foothills was recorded in Spring 2018 at a country retreat pop-up studio. At that time, 15 songs were captured and immortalised in the Canterbury foothills of the Southern Alps, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Only too well, The Bats know the possibilities, potentialities and sonic vistas that arise when one takes the reins for the recording process in a beautiful place that’s on home turf.
Robert Scott, on the making of Foothills has said “Time marches on... finally, we found a gap in our busy lives and chose a week to convene. We found a house that is usually inhabited by ski field workers — Kowai Bush, near Springfield about an hour west of Christchurch and of course nestled in the foothills of the mighty Southern Alps. The songs had been written, demo’d and arranged for some time, but still with a little room for trying things out in the studio. Many carloads arrived at the house, full of amps guitars and recording gear, we set up camp and soon made it feel like home; coloured lights, a log fire, and home cooked meals in the kitchen. We worked fast, and within a few days had all the basic backing tracks done, live together in one room, the way we like to do it - it’s all about ‘the feel’ for songs like ours.”
Natalie Schlabs returns here for a third time this summer with 'Don't Look To Close' and it's another reminder that her forthcoming album is a gorgeous collection of imaginative tracks. === Sonny Winnebago shares the beautifully upbeat modern pop song 'Lemonade' where feel good vibes roam free. === Crawford Mack impressed us back in July with 'Depends On Where You Stand' and his brand new release 'Firing Squad' continues the trend from this refined singer songwriter. === Maxwell Stern has released 'Pull The Stars Down' a catchy and smooth flowing song with a country rock feel, ahead of his debut album 'Impossible Sum' due next Friday.
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Natalie Schlabs writes songs that explore the complicated emotions and perspective-shifting moments that make up family relationships. Her music often blends sublime vocal harmonies with lyrics about the secret desires and difficulties of living life among loved ones. Her first full-length album Midnight With No Stars was celebrated for its willingness to explore the personal. New Slang praised the album for revealing “a rugged truthfulness we often save for conversations with ourselves.” There’s a richness and clarity to Schlabs’ voice reminiscent of artists like Norah Jones and Jill Andrews, making her a popular choice for harmonizing background vocals. She frequently collaborates with other musicians on tour and in the studio.
Her stunning duet with Irish-born artist Ben Glover “Fall Apart” features vocals that “ring and resound like a fork tapping crystal” (hyperlink) and was Song of the Week on The Bluegrass Situation in 2016. Schlabs’ introduction to Nashville music came through collaboration, singing background vocals for fellow Texan Ryan Culwell and performing with Katie Herzig at Paste Studio NYC in 2018. “I think there’s something cool about the act of stepping into someone else’s sound and blending with it. It’s a challenge, and a kind of freedom, too.” Like many other Nashville musicians, the West Texas native grew up singing in church, but unlike others the majority of her early musical experiences took place at home with family. Her three brothers were musicians— one a pianist, one a guitarist and drummer, and one guitarist and songwriter— her mom sang, and her grandfather, a guitarist and vocalist who performed classics, often invited the family to sing with him. “It was very normal for all of us to be together in a room, playing instruments and singing together. My love for music comes from my family, and my love for family is often the substance of my songwriting.”
Breaking a bit from her country roots, Schlabs’ new album Don’t Look Too Close (set for release October 16, 2020)steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy, delicate harmonies. Co-produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke, with Caleb Hickman on saxophone and her husband Joshua Rogerson bass,the albumswells and ebbs with elegant, absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender, each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocals front-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies. “Juan’s got a great ear. He created really original textures with layered guitar. That’s a big part of the sound of the record.” Recorded the year of her 30th birthday and largely written while pregnant with her first child, the album naturally focuses on tensions between past and present. “I was thinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values. There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew. What do I value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I want to spare them from?”
Drawing inspiration from 1970s influences including Harry Nilsson and Cat Stevens, Sonny Winnebago is the stage name of Welsh-Australian pop troubadour Harvey Jones.
With a slice of his childhood spent making Lemonade in Perth, the musician eventually relocated to Wales; swapping lemons for guitars. Occupying his free time by perfecting his craft, Winnebago has moulded a sound that is bright, avant-garde pop; even when exploring the sombre themes in life.
Layered with a warm-hued melody and Winnebago’s soft vocals, his new infectious offering Lemonade is a perfectly crafted uplifting anthem for the warm summer days. Discussing the inspiration behind the track, he says: “I was walking to my job as a barista one sunny day, and saw some little go-getters selling lemonade outside their house. I thought that was really cool and reminded me of when I used to make lemonade from a lemon tree we had in the back garden.”
Having teamed up with producer Charlie Francis, and session musicians Davey Newington (Boy Azooga) and Matt Evans (KEYS), the feel-good bop sparks the nostalgic sound and recollections of being back in a classroom.
The artist tells us: “Everyone's got good memories of picking up a recorder or triangle in school, so we used lots of instruments. Davey brought along some shakers, there’s also a ukulele, woodblock, kazoos & a kalimba. My school instrument was the flute, so we put that in too.”
Intimately involved in all aspects of his art; Glaswegian singer-songwriter Crawford Mack is not just a composer and lyricist, but a video and art director, the whole focused on the perfect expression of his musical vision. The jazz trained singer, guitarist and lyricist has concocted a musical sound that, in his words, found ‘the sweet spot between Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell’.
We see a change in the singer, as he swaps orchestral melodies for downtempo acoustic stings in his second offering ‘Firing Squad’. Building a sharp momentum using melodious gentle guitar riffs and a rhythmic drumbeat, ‘Firing Squad’ explores the power of a guilt-ridden conscience that one might feel due to their own behaviour; specifically targeting the action of mistreating others.
Accompanied by a short film conceptualised by the songwriter, the new music video directed by Liam Hendrix Heath, borrows heavily from space oddity era Bowie and Stanley Kubrick; following an astronaut’s journey through suburbia and his past in a jarring, mirroring the claustrophobia and hidden menace of the track.
The lyrics draw on the use of power to oppress the powerless and were inspired by a reference in a William Mcllvanney book to the blindfold used in firing squads being to spare the shooters seeing the condemned eyes. The teacher in the film embodying a particular personal memory for Crawford.
Discussing the new music video, Crawford tells us: “I didn't want to go for something obvious with a literal 'Firing Squad' and soldiers because I think I've seen plenty of that in music videos before. Liam and I spent a long time over lockdown talking through what the song was about for me, until one day out of the blue, he came up with the idea of the astronaut walking past tableaus that are flashbacks of his life. The idea grew from there until we started to create our antagonist teacher character for the final face-off.”
Maxwell Stern Unveils New Single From Upcoming "Impossible Sum" LP on Lauren Records who will release Maxwell Stern's debut solo album, Impossible Sum, on September 25th.
"Brave the trains and meet me across town. We’ll go out spinning stories, trying to pull the stars down." sings Stern in this song that is the product of a lot of drunken reminiscing with old friends in new places.
"I think it's really easy to romanticize the past which can be kind of an unhealthy thing to do, to just kind of live in nostalgia-world and think that things aren't ever going to be as good as they were. I think it's ultimately about developing a healthy relationship with your memories but not letting them rule you." Stern says of the track, adding "Remembering that appreciation for the past and hope for the future aren't mutually exclusive and in fact, sometimes they can reinforce each other."
Impossible Sum may be Max’s first solo record, but it certainly isn’t a solo effort. In addition to Laura Stevenson, a stacked personnel of other longtime friends and collaborators helped Max bring these songs to life, including Adam Beck (Sincere Engineer, Into It. Over It.), Matt Arbogast (The Gunshy), Jon Hernandez (Timeshares) and Kyle Pulley (who produced, engineered, and mixed the album).
For Maxwell Stern, Impossible Sum—his first proper solo record after being in bands like Signals Midwest, Meridian, Timeshares—is an honest-to-God effort to wrangle heartfelt and sometimes confusing feelings of adjustment, displacement, and settling into song. These songs have the kind of heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability that fans of his other bands have come to admire, but presented in a completely unfiltered fashion, existing exactly as they need to be.
